Creating A Living Space Adaptable to the Culture and Tradition of Mankind and Shape the Perpetuity of Culture By Madam Wang Ping September 15 2002 Abstract Walking into life and touching the history and culture is the feature of the Chinese Museum, a tangible living space adapted to the culture and tradition of mankind. In this enlightening cultural space, it is a real-time reflection of existence and personality. When visitors enter into the original living space of minority nationalities with natural and harmonious feeling, such unusual but familiar personal environment will lead people to pursue the fair, kind and truth in their heart. Experiencing the human cultural heritage in the natural environment is a waking up and rejuvenation of life. During this random tour of life, the museum is no more a preacher. It becomes a participant in the process of self-recovery. The interest and enjoyment of the people is a manifestation of human life. It also reflects the concept and spiritual life of human being. In this sense, it is the true intangible part of human cultural heritage. Back to my home, the familiar home that I once had. This is the model our museum uses to displace the continuity and aliveness of human cultural heritage. It is also the comprehensive measures for the protection of intangible cultural heritage. In order to enrich this tangible living space with clear-cut cultural consciousness and cultural identity, we have designed a dozen “homes” in the main exhibition hall, with each home representing a specific theme. These “homes” are not “families”, they are “homes” for a period of human life, such as “young girl’s bedroom”, “study”, “baby-nurturing room”, “ancestral room”, “post and dock”, “weaving room”, “farm courtyard”, etc.. The use of a period of life to reflect the phenomena of human life and the cultural conditions of that period can make the visitors reidentify themselves and reestablish their cultural and historical values. Celebration and sacrifice are the important way of displaying intangible cultural heritage. In the fight against nature, the solar terms are the first incubator of the thinking of human being. The independent sacrifice activities are linked to the life cycle of spring, summer, autumn and winter, making the climate change of nature into a carrier for the manifestation of culture. It also concretizes the intangible spiritual activity into tangible activity of thinking. Although climate change belongs to natural activities, it can never be separated from the existence of human being. It is actually the first natural activities that stimulate the thinking of human being. Through the integration of nature and mankind, the connection between thinking and spirit and the emphasis on the climate change as an element for the incubation of human culture, we try to make people today understand the thinking and psychological situation of their ancestors and the culture reflected by such thinking. The Chinese Museum has designed a series of celebration and sacrifice activities of the Chinese minority people with the theme of “new life” and featured by liveliness and participation. This cultural carrier full of vitality has consciously and stereoscopically revived the intangible cultural heritage of human being. Based on the principle of “walking into life, history and culture”, we have integrated the climate change and the change of botanies in Beijing each month into the “life’ of human being, so as to make the visitors touring the Chinese Museum feel like walking into a cultural space with great vitality and high information content. Each visitor can freely interact with information and absorb the essence of the intangible cultural heritage of human being. |
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Protection & Development of the Intangible Heritage of the Ethnic Minorities with the Background of Chinese Culture By Madam Wang Ping September 15, 2002 Table of Contents
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© by China Nationalities Museum (Chinese Ethnic Park)
